ISB alumni launch online taxfiling site TaxYantra.com

On invitation, I accompanied my Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Sri D. V. Dharmik, who along with Dr. Rammohan Rao, Dean, ISB launched today the online tax filing portal TaxYantra started by a group of four Indian School of Business (ISB) alumni at Hyderabad. This is supposed to be India's first customised online tax filing service for Indian citizens in the country and abroad.The web-based solution created by TaxYantra enables the tax payer to understand taxes and fill the tax return forms online. The print outs of these forms will be picked up by the representatives of the company and file with the Income Tax department. To start with the company intends to charge Rs. 100 for online return and Rs. 250 if the manual filing is also involved.

"Our website has received about 50,000 hits in the last couple of days, and a quarter of them have been from Hyderabad and Bangalore," Nitin Vyakaranam, founder and director, TaxYantra, said. According to their survey, individual income tax assessees spend, on an average, five hours on filing returns by way of meeting HR personnel, consultants and waiting in queue at the Income Tax office.

The four partners, including Nitin, together invested Rs 50 lakh in the initiative. They plan to offer a few other financial services to clients. Nitin said the company was also ready to directly send the tax return filings online to the department once the authorities decide to accept forms in the extensible markup language (XML) format. Mr. D V Dharmik, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax department, said that prsently filing return online is compulsory for the comapnies. However, it is not mandatory for individuals. He said that it may not be far away before which the Department introduces the seamless form of receiving returns, processing and issuing refunds, without the intervention of humans anywhere in the process, thereby reducing contact between the Deaprtment and the taxpayers. The efforts on the lines of TaxYantra will go a long way top educate tax payers in respect of income tax procedures and filing their tax returns in time.

Mr. Rammohan Rao, dean of ISB, said that many of the ISB alumni are becoming entrepreneurs. As per the details availbale, 38 students of the recently passed out batch have started their own ventures excluding the students who have business background before joining ISB. In this regard, he lauded the efforts of Wadhawani Centre for Entrpreneurship in ISB and also thanked Wadhwani Foundation, who has been sponsoring the entrepreneur initiative taken by ISB. He further added that the institute's endeavour was to churn out more job creators rather than job-seekers. He also felt very happy that such initiatives are increasing day by day. Many of ISB alimni attended the inauguaral function.

Related Reports:-

• ISB alumni start online tax filing service - Business Standard - 03-07-2007

Class of 2007 get record salaries

Complete Article:- B-school ISB graduates get record salaries - Indianedunews.net

The Class of 2007 of the premier Indian School of Business (ISB) has attracted record salaries; with the top international offer being $269,000 (Rs.11.8 million) against the highest domestic offer of Rs.4.39 million. The average international salary was $135,000 and the average domestic salary 1.50 million. Interestingly, a large number of students opted for domestic jobs. "The placement results for 2007 have been outstanding," ISB dean M. Rammohan Rao said. "There has been a sharp increase in the CTC (cost-to-company) levels and our students have shown immense confidence in making choices that suit long term career prospects over immediate salaries," he added.

The Class of 2007 completed the one-year intensive Post Graduate Programme in Management on April 7, 2007. Of the 416 students in the class, 414 participated in the placement process and, among them, received 584 offers from over 200 companies that visited the campus during the last phase of the program.

"The high CTC levels demonstrate the confidence that companies have in the high quality of the ISB's management talent," said Rao, even as he added a word of caution. "We need to take a balanced view of international offers given by multinational companies. I urge everyone to use these figures in the proper context so that potential students may get the correct picture of what they can achieve in a management institution."

The Class of 2007 received offers from a variety of companies and industries. The number of offers from the financial services sector more than doubled to 97, while a large number of offers continued to come from consulting companies. Companies from several new sectors like real estate, oil and energy, media, manufacturing, micro-finance, education, and healthcare, as also NGOs, made offers to ISB graduates.

During the year, for the first time in ISB's six-year history, a company recruited two groups of four-to-five students as core management teams to run stand-alone businesses. These groups will have full responsibility of setting up the projects from ground zero and leading them to become a success. "The company has offered students both CTC and equity stakes in the project, making it an exciting and attractive option for students with an entrepreneurial bent of mind," ISB deputy Dean Ajit Rangnekar said. The work experience of the students in the two groups ranges from two years to 11 years.

An interesting trend witnessed at the ISB was that a large number of students preferred domestic placements. "Many ISB students come with international work experience. After a year of learning and exposure to global faculty and management practices, they are keen to develop careers in India," Rangnekar pointed out. Often, those opting for international offers were observed to be discussing with the recruiters the possibilities of returning to India. "Increasingly, job content and location are becoming top priorities for selecting an offer," Rangnekar said.

Meera Sridharan, for instance, has opted for a domestic offer after working in a multinational company in the US. "Many of us look for challenging roles that give us the freedom for entrepreneurial expression. I was keen to be located in Chennai, near my family and I am happy that I got an offer from a company that had the flexibility to help me do so," she explained.

One of the unique platforms ISB provides is an opportunity for students to make career shifts. Thus, from the automobile industry to banking, from transportation to telecom, from being a doctor in the armed forces to a fund financing NGOs, the Class of 2007 has made several interesting career shifts.

"I had learnt and grown a lot during my career in the shipping industry but I needed to find new challenges," said Vijay Nehra, who has now moved to an FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) company.

"ISB changed my life. I got an excellent opportunity to refresh myself and find a new career that fulfils my ambitions and gives me a completely new perspective," Nehra added.

The school offers a one-year postgraduate programme; short-duration, high-powered executive education programmes for CEOs and senior executives; and a two-year research fellowship programme.

"The origins and distinctive research of our faculty members ensure that our programme content is contemporary and global in its perspective, and develops our students' understanding of modern management opportunities and challenges," dean Rao explained.

ISB - Placement Summary - 2007

Summary of the placements at ISB in 2007

For the first time since the last five years, the ISB has attracted companies from Australia and Italy. Leading companies based in Germany, Switzerland, Middle East, USA, UK, Singapore etc are visiting the campus. This year, a company recruited two groups of students as core management teams to run stand alone businesses. These groups of 4/5 students will responsible for setting up the project from Ground Zero and leading it to become a success.

In a press release to The Hindu, Dr. Rammohan Rao said: "Now on a sharp growth curve, the Indian economy provides opportunities for our students to grow with it. Taking a balanced view and opting for strong roles irrespective of compensation is a mark of maturity. I am glad to see that the youth of India are demonstrating confidence in their abilities and in our economy," he said. Among the `non-traditional' sectors increased are several international and domestic companies and of particular interest are micro-finance companies, NGOs, real estate, retail, infrastructure like steel, cement, oil and natural gas. Companies looking to make offers for senior management roles include Holcim Ltd (a leading Global player in cement industry), Tischman Speyer (a leading real estate and consulting agency), Italcementi S.p.A (fifth-largest cement producer in the world), Arcelor Mittal (Largest steel producer in the world) and Santos (A major Australian oil and gas exploration and production company with presence in Australia, USA, Papua New Guinea and Egypt).

HIGHLIGHTS

Class Size 416
Average Age 27 Years
Average Work Experience 5 Years
Total number of participating students 414
Total number of companies that participated 202
Total number of offers 581

Highest International salary USD 2,69,000
Average International salary USD 135,000
Highest Indian salary INR 43,91,000
Average Indian salary INR 15,03,000
Highest International salary for a woman student USD 161, 000
Highest domestic salary for a woman INR 2, 700, 000

A word of caution:- When ISB computes the average domestic and international salaries, it takes into account all offers that have been made to the students independent of whether they have been accepted or not. For example, a student gets three offers - two domestic offers of INR 2 million and INR 3 million per annum and one international offer of USD 150,000 per annum and he accepts only the domestic offer of INR 3 million per annum, then ISB takes into account all the three offers for computing averages and not the one that has been accepted by the student. Please be careful while understanding the averages as these averages refer to the offers made rather than to the offers accepted. The above figures are based on the Cost to the Comapny (CTC) which may include monetary benefits that could be realised only after a lapse of time like two to three years. It also includes the signing bonus, which may not recur subsequently.

ISB Radio Rolls

At 9.00 PM, 20 December, 2006, ISB Radio’s Beta launch rolled out its first broadcast. A full fledged student body and SFA (Spouses & Families Association) managed initiative, the ISB in-house radio was inaugurated on 3rd December, 2006, as a part of ISB Fifth Anniversary Celebrations. An online streaming radio, which can be accessed only within the ISB network through the intranet, got going with a one hour program, relayed twice, back to back between 9- 11PM. Student Sindhu Shanmugam, who conceptualized ISB Radio says, "This radio initiative will serve as a platform for the students, faculty and staff at the ISB, alums and the industry to connect with each other". RJs of the ‘MnM Show’, Students Sahil Mathur and Samir Mehta add, "We wanted the first few programmes to simply represent the youth factor at ISB- news, assorted gossip, fun, all rolled in”.

Speaking about the content , Sindhu informs that the programs broadly would relay campus news, chat shows with faculty( both on campus and visiting), alums and students, placement news, placement related preparation tips, events organized by different clubs at the ISB, views from and about the ISB. Adds Megh K, Student and Sound Engineer of ISB Radio, "We will also be highlighting the creative edge and the can-do passion, that brims in the campus. Dramas and plays, by the Drama Club at ISB, mimicry shows and jokes will be the other crowd pullers on our shows".

This is truly a ground breaking initiative, bringing together ideas and enthusiasm! Play on ISB Radio.

For complete details :- ISB Radio Rolls